JAKARTA ,Indonesia's Industry and Trade Minister, Rini Soewandi,
confirmed Wednesday that the government has decided to shelve a plan to
temporarily ban rice imports this year.
Rini said no import limitations will be imposed, as the main crop domestic
harvest has already ended.
"We had been concerned before because domestic rice prices were falling," she
said. "But after we have done some reviews, everything is all right, and no
further regulations are needed."
Rini declined to comment whether the government would impose the ban next
year.
The government in May had considered measures to help boost domestic rice
prices, with a temporary ban on rice imports among the likely alternatives.
Such a policy would be aimed at protecting local farmers from suffering due to
low domestic prices caused by the current influx of rice imports.
Indonesia's paddy rice output is forecast at 51.83 million metric tons this
year, up around 0.7% from actual output of 51.489 million tons last year,
according to data from Indonesia's Statistics Bureau.